Calcutta high court
KOLKATA: Calcutta high court Wednesday decided against scrapping the recruitment of 32,000 teachers for state-run primary schools, setting aside the order of Justice Abhijit Ganguly, who has since become a BJP MP, report Subrata Chattoraj & Poulami Roy.In 2023, Justice Ganguly, while cancelling the appointments based on 2014 Teacher Eligibility Test, said the jobs were “actually sold”. A larger bench had stayed the order.HC said it was setting aside the order because the “conclusion by the investigating authority (CBI) would not reveal that the appointed candidates were involved in any corrupt practices”.Allegation of fraud in entire selection process not sustainable: HCThe allegation of fraud and corruption pertaining to the entire recruitment process is not sustainable and the appointment of the 32,000 teachers cannot be interfered with,” a bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Mitra, hearing an appeal by the state govt against Justice Ganguly’s order, ruled.Cautioning courts against “innovating at pleasure”, the bench said, “There must have been a possibility of systemic malice, assessment of data doesn’t point to the same.”The division bench noted that CBI only found irregularities in the recruitment of 360 candidates. Of them, 264 candidates were given grace marks and identified. Additionally, 96 candidates did not secure qualifying marks but were still appointed. Their services were terminated but they are still teaching following a Supreme Court order.After the verdict, Ganguly said, “They (the HC bench) did what they thought was right. What can I say? Unless I read the judgment and its reasoning, I cannot speak.”CM Mamata Banerjee gave a cautious response. “We respect the judicial process. I’m happy our brothers and sisters have got their jobs back,” she said. Her education minister Bratya Basu showed less restraint. “They (teachers) thought him to be their God, but he turned out to be Satan,” he said.BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari defended Ganguly. “I can’t comment on the judiciary’s order but apparently, there were irregularities in the recruitment process in both TET & SLST. It is also true that thousands of deserving candidates suffered in both cases due to the presence of tainted candidates in the panel. TMC is responsible for pushing them to such a situation.”